During one scenario, an explosive and bioterror threat was discovered within the sprawling, General Dynamics site. All GD employees were evacuated and Scottsdale police, SWAT, K9 and other early responder teams activated and deployed. The 161st Air National Guard, using specially equipped Black Hawk helicopters, whisked away victims on litters to and from a mobile "MASH" style hospital at the Papago National Guard Base and Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn's Emergency Trauma Center. The latest version in the "MASH" concept is called EMEDS-- Expeditionary Medical Support, and was employed for relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, the military's newest Air Force C-17 transport, the highly efficient casualty evacuation system, AirEvac, was also demonstrated.
Zenhausern's center team, which includes researchers Carl Yamashiro, Ph.D., Ralf Lenigk, Ph.D., Moria Nagy and Mark Richards, worked in close collaboration with the Coyote Crisis Campaign participants and graduate students and assistant professor Dosun Shin from ASU's College of Design to develop a product concept for a mobile, rapid assessment device to respond to potential bioterror threats.
"The College of Design members did an exceptional job of helping us to create a safe, well-organized, ergonomic containment enclosure that met our technical requirements for processing and identifying a simulated bioagent threat," said Carl Yamashiro, senior researcher at the Biodesign center.
The biothreat identification elements relied on the center's automated miniaturized lab-on-a-chip c
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Contact: Joe Caspermeyer
joseph.caspermeyer@asu.edu
480-727-0369
Arizona State University
2-May-2006